Hlog Week 12 Big Ten Rank: 1. MSU, 2. Wisconsin

With two weeks left in the season, both division races are locked as tight as can be without being clinched. Ohio State's offense against Michigan State's defense is coming soon to a domed stadium near you, Indianapolis.

In the meantime, our No. 1 team for Week 12 is ...

1. Michigan State, W 41-28 at Nebraska. Jeremy Langford had 32 carries for 151 yards for the Spartans. Jeremy spoke in class today.

The Spartans' fake punt for a first-down against Iowa was called "Hey Diddle Diddle." The fake field goal for a first down on a drive that resulted in a touchdown at Nebraska was called "Charlie Brown."

MSU was ahead 27-21 at the time, seemingly about to try a 44-yard field goal. But holder/punter Mike Sadler did what he did against the Hawkeyes after Coach Mark Dantonio called for a fake. Which was, running for first-down yardage at a key moment.

"I didn't want it to be a three-point game (if Nebraska scored again)," Dantonio said. "I felt if we could just snatch back momentum a little bit, something positive was gonna happen."

Sadler gained three yards, three big yards. Then he got hit.

"There's only so many hits you can take as a punter," Sadler said. "Right now, I just need some morphine and some whiskey."

As for "Charlie Brown" ...

"Snoopy would have made it look a little better than I did," Sadler said in this USA TODAY story.

Put this guy on the Big Ten's all-quote team.

2. Wisconsin, W 51-3 vs. Indiana. Bret Bielema is gone, but the Badgers' tradition of obliterating Indiana remains.

In the last four seasons, the combined score of their meetings is Wisconsin 255, Indiana 44. It was Wisconsin's ninth-straight win over the Hoosiers.

James White ran 93 yards for a touchdown on the Badgers' first offensive play. That was all the points they needed. They collected a lot more anyway. It's what they do.

Wisconsin rushed for 554 yards, the second-most in their history. The most was the 564 they amassed against Indiana last year.

"They know we're going to run the ball," Wisconsin guard Ryan Groy said in this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story. "It's either you stop it or we're going to keep going."

3. Michigan, W 27-19 (3 OT) at Northwestern. After almost four full quarters of offensive futility, Michigan made college football's Field Goal of the Year to send the game into overtime.

And another holder from a Michigan team, the Wolverines' Drew Dileo, spun straw into gold with college football's Slide of the Year.

“It might be the best single play I've ever seen," Michigan Coach Brady Hoke said. " ‘Cause it was a team play.”

Michigan offensive tackle Taylor Lewan said a mouthful with one hashtag:

4. Ohio State, W 60-35 at Illinois. Are people really going to punish the Buckeyes for giving up 35 points and 420 yards to a good quarterback (Nathan Scheelhaase) and a decent offense? Yeah? Oh well.

Al;abama didn't lose Saturday, nor did Florida State. Baylor ripped up Texas Tech. So the Buckeyes are still looking at a Rose Bowl consolation prize. If, that is, they can win the Big Ten.

"I have to make sure our focus is on just getting better each week instead of all the national stuff," Meyer said. "I am learning: Just shut your mouth and quit worrying about this and that. Let's get a little better."

OSU has a 22-game winning streak. A reason: It has good players. Carlos Hyde rushed 22 times for 246 yards and four touchdowns. Cornerback Bradley Roby, who barely got to play in the Iowa game before getting tossed out on a targeting call, returned an interception 63 yards for a touchdown.

Oh, and quarterback Braxton Miller ran 70 yards for a TD 36 seconds into the game. Ohio State and Wisconsin both played 11:01 a.m., games, and both had touchdowns by 11:05.

The Buckeyes have scored 56 points or more for three straight weeks. But barring an upset to Bama or FSU, Ohio State will have no chance to pursue the national-title. Nor Baylor, for that matter. Or Northern Illinois.

5. Penn State, W 45-21 vs. Purdue. Zach Zwinak may be last among all college football players, alphabetically. (He probably isn't, but play along.) However, he stood behind no one Saturday with 26 carries for 149 yards and three touchdowns.

Our friend David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News wrote this from the game. The first paragraph is a quote from Penn State Coach Bill O'Brien. The second is Jones' opinion.

“Here's what it does. When you go into a game and preach one of the ‘keys to victory' is to establish a running game, then you go in there and the players actually do it, that helps definitely the confidence of the team during the game.”

Is that sort of confidence transferrable game to game? Depends. Against what very well could be an emotionally and physically drained opponent like Nebraska could be next Saturday, well, yeah.

6. and 7. Iowa and Minnesota. Idle. Iowa had to be looking at its Saturday opponent, Michigan, and thinking "We can bully that team." In the good football sense, not the bad locker room way.

Minnesota, on the other hand, had to watch Wisconsin on TV and realize it will be doing no bullying when the Badgers come to Minneapolis this Saturday.

But who'd a thunk this a few weeks, months, years ago: Iowa-Michigan gets an 11 a.m. BTN slot while Wisconsin-Minnesota is a 2:30 ABC game.

8. Illinois, L 60-35 vs. Ohio State. Yeah, I know. Sixty points allowed. But the Illini didn't quit after falling behind 28-0. They were fairly entertaining from that point on, in fact.

However, it's more than a little weird that Illinois head coach Tim Beckman and offensive coordinator Bill Cubit yelled at each other on the sideline during the game.

"There's no dysfunction over our side," Cubit said. "I'm not saying there's dysfunction anywhere else. I think the kids are taking on the personality of this offensive staff, they're fighting and battling."

Football is an emotional game.

9. Nebraska, L 41-28 vs. Michigan State. Five turnovers. This game, and the chance to proceed to the Big Ten championship game, was lost because of five turnovers.

“It's just - goddangit! - we didn't even give ourselves a chance today,” Huskers offensive coordinator Tim Beck said.

“Dumbfounded. Just dumbfounded."

Nebraska gained 392 yards, the kind of number Michigan State's vaunted defense had not surrendered this season. The Spartans entered the game first in the nation in total defense, allowing a mere 210.2 yards per outing.

But, as Sam McKewon noted in his Omaha World-Herald story from the game, Nebraska is minus-28 in turnovers under Bo Pelini, and the Huskers have endured nine double-digit losses in the last three years.

These things don't go unnoticed in Nebraska.

10. Northwestern, L 27-19 (3 OT) vs. Michigan. The following tweet says plenty:

How many potential interceptions did the Wildcats drop Saturday? A lot. A half-dozen.

"I think I saw seven," NU Coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "I could be wrong. I have to look at the tape. How do I explain (the drops)? I don't."

Northwestern got Hail-Maryed at Nebraska, let a golden opportunity to beat Iowa get away, and have lost four straight games by one score to go to 0-6 in the Big Ten. How many teams have gone from the Top 25 to an 0-6 record in their league?

Don't ask me, I don't have the rest of November to waste on such trivial research.

"It's pretty unbelievable," Wildcats kicker Jeff Budzien said in this Chicago Tribune story. "It's shocking, it's depressing. If you had told me we'd be 4-6, I would have laughed at you."

11. Purdue, L 45-21 at Penn State. There are 10 NCAA Division I athletic programs in Indiana. Purdue has a better football team than seven of them. They are: Butler, Evansville, Indiana State, IPFW, IUPUI and Valparaiso.

12. Indiana, L 51-3 at Wisconsin. If the Hoosiers win at Ohio State Saturday, their bowl hopes are alive.

In other words, they no longer have bowl hopes this season.

David Woods had a good open to his game story in the Indianapolis Star:

So you think it's bad for Indiana to be in Big Ten football's East Division next year with Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State?Better than being in the West with Wisconsin.

Better than being in the West with Wisconsin.